Addison: Art tour attracts nearly 200

August 5, 2008 12:00 am

by Steve ColhounSpecial to The News

ADDISON, Maine&nbsp- Despite some rain, the second annual Harrington-Addison art tour on Friday and Saturday was nearly as successful as last year, drawing close to 200 people from throughout Maine and as far away as Boston, New York, Florida and Texas.

The 17 artists who participated featured a variety of media, from oils, watercolors and pen-and-ink to sculpture, photography and hand-sewn quilting. Styles ranged from realistic representations of coastal Maine — seascapes and towns, farms and fields, flora and fauna — to mythical fantasy images of dragons, castles and monsters.

The tour began at Addison town hall, where some works were displayed, and included the recently opened Grey Wolf Gallery in the center of town. From there, visitors drove to studios and galleries in both communities to speak with artists and view their workspaces.

Another stop on the tour was a visit to the Cape Split home of the late John Marin, America’ s first abstract expressionist in the late 1800s to the 1950s. His daughter-in-law Norma Marin exhibited 15 of his works and sold reproductions of his painting “Stonington, Maine, Opera House,” with the proceeds going to La Romana Nurses’ Mission in the Dominican Republic, as did some other profits from the tour.

A collection of John Marin’ s works is housed at the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville.